The Road To Victory In a spirited and confident speech in the House of Commons yesterday, which was frequently interrupted by bursts of applause, the Prime Minister surveyed the progress of the war. Mr. Churchill said that we must prepare ourselves for the campaigns of 1941 and 1942, but later added that the road to victory might not be so long as we expected. He also announced that suitable sites in our transatlantic possessions were to be leased to the United States to facilitate the defence of the Western Hemisphere, and declared that the British and American democracies "will have to be somewhat mixed up together in some of their affairs for mutual and general advantage." The Prime Minister also stated that requests that food should be allowed to pass the blockade for the relief of people in subjugated countries must be refused. We would arrange in advance, however, for the speedy entry of food into enslaved areas when they had been wholly cleared of German forces. THE EMPIRE AND THE U.S. 'MIXED UP TOGETHER' WESTMINSTER, TUESDAY The PRIME MINISTER'S speech in the House of Commons to-day was a survey of the war since the beginning and a calmly measured estimate of the future. A crowded House was deeply impressed by the spirit of resolution and confidence which inspired the speech, and broke in upon it frequently with loud cheers. One of the most emphatic of these demonstrations greeted the announce- ment that a strict blockade is to be enforced, not only of Germany and of Italy, but of all the other countries fallen under German power. Another important announcement-to which point was given by the presence of the American Ambassador and the American military and naval observers in the Distinguished Strangers' Gallery-was the decision to lease to the United States suitable sites in our transatlantic possessions to facilitate the defence of the Western Hemisphere. A passage which attracted special attention was that in the trans- action referred to " the British Empire and the United States will have to be somewhat mixed up together in some of their affairs for mutual and general advantage." . 92,000 CASUALTIES Opening with a comparison of the last with the present war, MR. CHURCHILL con- trasted the casualties of 365,000 in the former with the figure of 92,000 during the past year, this number including civilians and a large number alive as prisoners of war. This war, he said, was a conflict of strategy, of organization, of technical apparatus, science, mechanics, and moral, and he was confident that the new kind of war was well suited to the genius and the resources of the British Empire. To-day Hitler was sprawled over Europe while our offensive springs were being slowly compressed, and we must resolutely and methodically prepare our- selves for the campaigns of 1941 and 1942. It did not follow that our energies in future years would be exclusively con- lined to defending ourselves and our possessions. OUR JOURNEY'S END One of the ways to bring the war to a speedy end was to convince the enemy, not by words but bv deeds, that we had both the will and the means not only to go on indefinitely, but to strike heavy and unexpected blows. The road to victory, NIR. CHURCHILL declared, might not be so long as we expected, but he added that we had no right to count upon that. " Be it long or short, rough or smooth, we mean to reach our journey's end." The House enjoyed its first touch of light relief when thz PRIME MINISTER re- ferred to Hitler's proclamation of a strict blockade of the British Islands. " No one can complain of that. I remember the Kaiser doing it in the last War." There followed the grini passage that it would be a matter of general complaint if Great Britain were to prolong the agony of all Europe by allowing food to go in to. nourish the Nazis and aid their war effort or to allow food to go in to the subjugated peoples which would certainly be pillaged by the Nazis. At this season of the year and for some months to come there was the least chance of scarcity, as the harvest had just been gathered in. The only agencies which could create famine in any part of Europe during the coming winter would be German exactions or German failure to distribute the supplies they commanded. SPEEDY ENTRANCE OF FOOD Another aspect was that many of the most valuable'foods were essential to the manufacture of vital war materials. Let Hitler, the PRIME MINISTER exclaimed- and the House was unmistakably in agree- ment-bear his responsibilities to the full and let the people groaning beneath the yoke aid in every way the coming of the day when it would be broken. Meanwhile, he added, we could arrange in advance for the speedy entrance of food into any part of the enslaved area when that part had been wholly cleared of German forces and had genuinely regained its freedom. We should do our best to encourage the building up of reserves of food atl over the world, so that there would always be held out before the eyes of the peoples of Europe, including, he said it deliberately, the German-Austrian peoples, the cer- tainty that the shattering of the Nazi power would bring to them all immediate food, freedom, and peace. Reviewing the "cataract of disaster" that had poured in upon us, MR. CHURCHILL said that if at the beginning of May we had been confronted with such a prospect it would have seemed incred- ible that at the end of that period of disaster we should stand erect, sure of ourselves, masters of our fate, and with the conviction of final victory burning unquenchably in our hearts. STRONGER THAN EVER "Few would have believed we could survive; none would have believed that we should to-day not only feel stronger but should actually be stronger than we have ever been before." Meanwhile we had not only fortified our hearts but our island. Our Armies had been rebuilt and rearmed in a degree which would have been deemed impossible a few months ago. The whole island bristled against invaders from the sea or from the air. Our Navy was far stronger than at the beginning of the war, and we hoped that "our friends across the ocean will send us a timely reinforcement." The seas and oceans were open and the U-boats were contained. Our stocks of food of all kinds were many times as great as in the days of peace. There was a characteristic touch in MR. CHURCHILL'S reference to the war in the air. Hitler, he said, could not admit defeat in his air attack on Great Britain without sistaining serious injury. If, after all the boastings and blood-curdling threats and tales of panic-stricken Britain, Hitler's whole air onslaught were forced to peter out, " the Ftihrer's reputation for veracity might be seriously impugned." The House enjoyed this sally and shortly afterwards cheered MR. CHURCHILL'S statement that, though the enemy was far more numerous than we were, our new production already far exceeded his and American production was just beginning to flow in. TRIBUTE TO AIRMEN There followed a glowing and heartfelt tribute to the British airmen. The grati- tude of every home in our island, in our Empire, and, indeed, throughout the world, except in the abodes of the guilty, goes out to them, he said. " Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few." Speaking of the bombing attacks on Germany, MR. CHURCHILL -declared that these would continue upon an ever- increasing scale until the end of the war, and might in another year attain dimen- sions hitherto undreamt of. That assured us of one at least of the most certain, if not the shortest, of all the roads to victory. Turning to the Middle East, the PRIME MINISTER said that far larger operations no doubt impended there. We had large armies there and many means of reinforcing them and complete sea command of the Eastern Mediterranean. He then replied to " a good many people " Who had asked him to make a fuller statement of our war aims. He did not think it would be wise now to embark upon elaborate speculation about the future. Before we could undertake the task of rebuilding we had not only to be convinced ourselves but to convince all other countries that the Nazi tyranny was going to be finally broken. MUTUAL ADVANTAGE There was, however, one direction in which we could see a little more clearly ahead. This referred to the announcement of the Government's willingness to accord defence facilities to the United States by leasing suitable site.; in our transatlantic possessions for their greater security against the unmeasured dangers of the future.d There followed the final passage which the House felt to be significant: ". . . The two great organizations of the English-speaking democracies, the British Empire and the United States, will have to be somewhat mixel up together in some of their affairs for mutual and general advantage. For my own part, looking out upon the future, I do not view the process with any misgivings. No one can stop it. Like the Mississippi it just keeps rolling along. Let it roll on full flood, inexorable, irresistible, benignant, to broader lands and better days." THE ROAD TO VICTORY MR. CHURCHILL'S SURVEY OF THE WAR GLOWING TRIBUTE TO THE R.A.F. BRITAIN'S GROWING OFFENSIVE POWER SITES TO BE LEASED TO U.S.